02 dicembre 2014
(see the latest "Prevent Suicide" report by WHO)
"The debate about the impact of climate change on human health has, very recently, included consideration of mental health" (Berry, Bowen & Kjellstrom, 2009).
The mental health vs climate relationship still needs to be studied into details (research gap).
How do climate factors affect suicide rate in the Italian context?
Previous study: regional data, 20 observations, unsignificant model.
Now, Italy is still our focus: county-level data provide 110 observations!
\[ LogStSuicideRate = \alpha + \beta_{1}LogGDPPerCapita + \beta_{2}LogUnemploymentRate \] \[ + \beta_{3}LogPopulation + \beta_{4}LogGiniIndex + \beta_{5}LogAverageTemperature \] \[ + \beta_{6}LogAverageTemperatureRange + \beta_{7}LogAveragePrecipitations + e \]
\[ LogSuicideRate = \alpha + \beta_{1} + \beta_{2}LogUnemploymentRate \] \[ + \beta_{3}LogPopulation + \beta_{4}LogAverageTemperature \] \[ + \beta_{5}LogAveragePrecipitations + e \]
| Dependent variable: | ||
| log(st_suicide_rate) | ||
| (1) | (2) | |
| log(gdp_per_capita) | 0.699*** | 0.529*** |
| (0.211) | (0.117) | |
| log(unemployment_rate) | 0.086 | |
| (0.106) | ||
| log(population) | -0.174*** | -0.158*** |
| (0.043) | (0.039) | |
| log(gini_index) | 0.173 | |
| (0.487) | ||
| log(avg_temperature) | -0.072 | -0.069 |
| (0.097) | (0.092) | |
| log(avg_temp_range) | -0.066 | |
| (0.211) | ||
| log(avg_precipitations) | -0.435*** | -0.461*** |
| (0.147) | (0.143) | |
| Constant | 5.312*** | 5.622*** |
| (1.415) | (1.123) | |
| Observations | 103 | 103 |
| R2 | 0.372 | 0.365 |
| Adjusted R2 | 0.326 | 0.339 |
| Residual Std. Error | 0.264 (df = 95) | 0.261 (df = 98) |
| F Statistic | 8.041*** (df = 7; 95) | 14.090*** (df = 4; 98) |
| Note: | p<0.1; p<0.05; p<0.01 | |